The City of Fremont’s Olive Hyde Art Gallery in collaboration with Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art present
A Celebration of Sculpture and Other Three-Dimensional Works by Northern California Women Artists
Curators: Elizabeth Addison and Leah Andrews
Jurors: Elizabeth Addison, Leah Andrews, and Karen M. Gutfreund
Catalog Design: Elizabeth Addison
Editors: Laura Abrams and Sandra Yagi
Copyright 2024 by Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art. The artists retain sole copyright to the contents of this catalog. No part of it may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without prior permission in writing.
ISBN: 9798338714706
About NCWCA
Founded in 1972, Women’s Caucus for Art is an affiliate society of the College Art Association and founding partner of the Feminist Art Project. Northern California Women’s Caucus is one of its earliest chapters, formed in 1973. It is one of three California chapters and serves members in San Francisco, East Bay, South Bay, Marin and all parts of Northern California. NCWCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Our Mission is to create community through art, education and social activism.
We are committed to:
• Recognizing the contributions of women in the arts
• Providing women with leadership opportunities and professional development
• Expanding networking and exhibition opportunities for women
• Supporting local, national, and global art activism
• Advocating for equity in the arts for all
www.ncwca.org
About Olive Hyde Gallery
The City of Fremont’s historic Olive Hyde Art Gallery is proud to partner with Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (NCWCA) to present Women Create Space, a celebration of sculpture and three-dimensional works by Bay Area and Northern California women artists.
The Olive Hyde Art Gallery offers the community a diverse range of gallery exhibits per year, introducing an array of traditional and contemporary art with some exhibitions requesting a call for artists. One of its most notable and popular exhibitions is its Annual Textile Exhibition, celebrating local fiber art for its 55th year in 2025.
Olive Hyde Art Gallery is run and operated by the City of Fremont. Support and funding is provided to the gallery by the not-for-profit organization the Olive Hyde Art Guild.
Olive Hyde Art Gallery 123 Washington Blvd Fremont, CA 94539 www.fremont.gov olivehydeartguild.org
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to an innovative—and internationally recognized—community of women artists working in three dimensions. Women Create Space —a collaboration between Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art and The City of Fremont’s historic Olive Hyde Art Gallery—spotlights women sculptors and 3D artists of Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art, the Olive Hyde Art Guild, and Northern California artists in a gallery-wide installation.
So many ideas spring from an inside response to form: for example, if I see a woman carrying a child in her arms it is not so much what I see that affects me, but what I feel within my own body. There is an immediate transference of sensation, a response within to the rhythm of weight, balance and tension of the large and small form making an interior organic whole. The transmutation of experience is, therefore, organically controlled and contains new emphasis of forms. It may be that the sensation of being a woman presents yet another facet of the sculptural idea.
~Barbara Hepworth, British artist and sculptor
Note from NCWCA President Priscilla Otani
Congratulations to the artists whose works were selected for Women Create Space, a juried exhibition in collaboration with the City of Fremont, The Olive Hyde Art Guild and Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art.
For this exhibition, jurors Elizabeth Addison, Karen Gutfreund, and Leah Andrews of the Olive Hyde Art Guild selected threedimensional works that cover a wide range of media encompassing ceramic, fiber art, metal, glass, paper sculpture, found objects, and assemblage.
Exhibitions Chair Elizabeth Addison has organized all three 2024 NCWCA exhibitions on the theme of “The Year of the Women.”
Women Create Space together with ACCESS and the 6000 Circle Project clearly highlight the incredible breadth and talent of Bay Area and National women artists. We are proud to feature so many great works in 2024.
NCWCA is also pleased to collaborate with the City of Fremont’s Olive Hyde Art Gallery on this exhibition. Our goal this year was to expand our contacts with other arts organizations in the Bay Area and this new relationship is one of several that we look forward to growing over time.
Many thanks to Exhibitions Chair, Elizabeth Addison, the jurors, and the NCWCA exhibition committee for this exhibition!
Priscilla Otani
NCWCA President August 2024
Note from NCWCA Exhibitions Chair Elizabeth Addison
~Doreen
Garner, American sculptor and performance artist
I have always been drawn to three-dimensional art because it allows me to experience subtle shifts in my perception of space. I believe that sculpture cannot be defined by material or process alone, but also by how it engages viewers and activates its environment. And, when women (including trans, non-binary, and those who identify as women) create sculpture, three-dimensional, and spacial works, they make their own space and meaning rather than reflecting that of the patriarchal or powerful.
Late last year, I was introduced to Leah Andrews, Olive Hyde Art Gallery Curator through NCWCA colleague and friend, Durba Sen (also an Olive Hyde Art Guild member). I inquired if Leah would consider collaborating with NCWCA at some point and handed her a stack of NCWCA exhibition catalogs. Leah got back to me quickly and suggested creating a sculpture and three-dimensional artwork exhibition. I was intrigued and we immediately began collaborating, beginning with this exhibition’s title.
During our planning sessions, Leah and I discovered common ground philosophically, aesthetically, and within our art practices. Although primarily a 2D artist, I have created immersive installations for Día de Los Muertos at SOMArts, and Leah’s Fine Arts education had an emphasis in sculpture. An exclusively sculpture art exhibition, especially one for women, would be a novel experience for both of us. We were excited with the prospect and flew with it!
Almost magically, the artworks of Women Create Space coalesced into three distinct constellations: The Natural World, Stories & Narratives, and Constructions & Constructs. Since the Olive Hyde Art Gallery comprises three exquisite halls, each grouping has its own space.
The artworks of Women Create Space speak profoundly to the claiming, holding, and shaping of space. Collaborating with Leah has been a joy and I couldn’t be more delighted.
Elizabeth Addison NCWCA Exhibitions Chair
August 2024 I think three-dimensional works allow people to understand the ways their own physical bodies are implicated within the narratives.
Note from Olive Hyde Art Gallery Curator Leah Andrews
The Making of Women Create Space
Durba Sen, member of both NCWCA and the Olive Hyde Art Guild as well as a prominent artist in the Fremont community, initially connected me and Elizabeth Addison during Olive Hyde Art Gallery’s 2023 Olive Hyde Art Guild Members’ Juried Show reception. It was my second exhibition as curator of Olive Hyde Art Gallery, and our initial meeting was rushed due to the large number of reception attendees. Elizabeth left some catalogs from previous NCWCA exhibitions for me to browse through, and we later met via Zoom to discuss the possibility of collaborating on an exhibition.
I had studied Fine Arts in junior college at Ohlone with an emphasis in sculpture, and was blown away by the sculpture works displayed in NCWCA’s catalogs. I asked Elizabeth what she thought about having an exclusively sculpture exhibition, and she was receptive and enthusiastic about the idea. Having just become curator of the Olive Hyde Art Gallery, I was thrilled for the opportunity to collaborate on a future Gallery exhibition that I felt so passionately about.
A year later, Women Create Space has become a reality. It has been wonderful working with Elizabeth on what is now my ninth exhibition curating at Olive Hyde Art Gallery. It is a pleasure and a privilege to exhibit and showcase such powerful, stunning works by talented local women artists. I am so grateful for the efforts of Elizabeth Addison and the NCWCA volunteers who helped bring this exhibition to life.
Leah Andrews
Olive Hyde Art Gallery Curator August 2024
Juror’s Statements
Elizabeth Addison MFA NCWCA Exhibitions Chair
I compare my juror experience to being in my favorite Berkeley pastry shop where every creation is mouth-watering. I would devour everything if I could, but I am limited to a single treat. Likewise, I was astounded by the enormous breadth of creativity, passion, and mastery in every Women Create Space artwork entry. Selecting only a portion from hundreds of submitted artworks was quite challenging and left me hungry for more!
It was an honor to jury Women Create Space. I leaned into works with a strong physical presence, especially those that challenged my notion of exterior versus interior space and spatial relationships. Craftpersonship and unique interpretations of the exhibit’s theme were important considerations, too.
The artworks of Women Create Space shape, carve, and caress space and I encourage viewers to pause, wonder, and experience something new with each. I extend much gratitude to my co-jurors, Leah Andrews and Karen M. Gutfreund, and The City of Fremont’s Olive Hyde Art Gallery for the generous donation of their beautiful venue. I also extend deep appreciation to all of the artists who submitted work for this exhibition. Each entry demanded a response and stood its ground!
Leah Andrews Olive Hyde Gallery Curator
As women, we exert so much of our energy contorting ourselves to fit into spaces which were not created for us. What’s so beautiful about exhibiting such a profoundly empowering show as Women Create Space at Olive Hyde Art Gallery is that the space was created by a woman. In the 1940s, the Gallery building was designed by Ms. Olive Hyde. She lived in a modest apartment upstairs until 1962 when she donated her home and Art Center to the City of Fremont specifying they be used for cultural and arts programs.
I am overjoyed to have had the opportunity to serve as juror and to co-curate such a meaningful exhibition in partnership with NCWCA. It is so important to celebrate the space we have created as women and to step away from the margins we are continually pushed toward. As artists and women, we proudly occupy this
space which we have cultivated for ourselves. The artworks in this exhibition are exemplary of our strength, resilience, and resistance. It is my hope that visitors leave this show feeling empowered and inspired.
Karen M. Gutfreund Independent Curator
It was such a pleasure to work with Elizabeth Addison, NCWCA Exhibitions Chair and Leah Andrews, Gallery Curator of the Olive Hyde Art Gallery to jury and assist with the curation of Women Create Space. It has been my curatorial practice and greatest joy to work with and promote women in the arts. This was no exception—I was captivated and delighted by the exceptional work by these Bay Area women artists.
This exhibition is a celebration of creativity and craftspersonship. Pushing back against the patriarchal canons of art for what can be considered “women’s work,” these timeless forms of sculptural expression showcase the skill and dedication, sometimes decades of work these artists have committed to their practice to perfect their craft to tell their individual stories.
Historically, women have used their artwork, in collaborative spaces, to create and explore space in ways that challenge and reimagine the social, political, and personal contexts in which they live. Not only to rewrite history, but to create space in historical narratives that have often excluded or misrepresented them and also to reclaim personal physical space imposed by societal gender norms and to challenge the “male gaze.”
Women Create Space has done this and more and I am thrilled to share these transformative artworks by this amazing group of artists. Bravo!
Exhibition Artists
Salma Arastu
Barbara M. Berk
Elizabeth Bloomfield
Lorraine Bonner
Mague Calanche
Marie Cameron
Christine Cianci
Mittie Cuetara
Lynn Dau
Giny Dixon
Michelle Echenique
Myrna Ehrlich
Marguerite Elliot
Eden Evans
Gillian Garro
Bushra Gill
Annette Goodfriend
Stacey Gregory
Jane Grimm
Vicki Gunter
Dianne Hoffman
Marilynn J. Host
Kathleen King
Tanya Lin
Susan Longini
Annie Marini-Genzon
Caroline Masters
Kristine Mays
Midori
Patricia A. Montgomery
Aleana Ortega
Priscilla Otani
Renée Owen
Cheryl L. Perman
Sawyer Rose
Arathi Satish
Barbara Schlein
Sondra Schwetman
Larraine Seiden
Sok’iann
Lisa Stambaugh
Linda Tapscott
Demetra Theofanous
Carolyn Tillie
Hwei-Li Tsao
Yuting Wang
Susan Zimmerman
SALMA ARASTU
Fish Frond
Palm frond, acrylics
28 x 6 x 5 inches, 2024
I walk along the Bay every morning and I have been picking up natural twigs, bark pieces and dry leaves to sew on burlap. Then I found a large palm frond. The color was beautiful and the shape reminded me of a fish. I painted a design over it with acrylics and made it a hanging sculpture!
salmaarastu.com, Berkeley, California
BARBARA M. BERK
For Reva
Stainless steel, resin 5 x 23 x 7 inches, 2023
Using 16th century Torchon ground stitches with 40 strands of twisted stainless steel wire, 21in to 90in long, I made 2 crescents of bobbin lace by hand to fit the curves of an armature I created. I sewed both flat pieces of lace to the armature with wire, then wove the ends of the wires into the lace, ornamenting the surface with filigreed spiral motifs.
barbaraberkdesigns.com, Fremont, California
ELIZABETH BLOOMFIELD
Floating Vanilla Coats
Ceramic
24 x 36 x 4 inches, 2023
Floating Vanilla Coats consists of three cascading ceramic pieces, installed via hanging wire. This work is inspired by scanning electron microscope images of vanilla seeds, with intact seed coats. This piece references new beginnings, as the wind scatters the seeds to their new destination.
lizbloomfield.com, San Francisco, California
ELIZABETH BLOOMFIELD
Ceramic 13 x 16 x 3 inches, 2023
Hollyhock is a three-dimensional wall piece modeled closely after a scanning electron microscope image of a hollyhock seed. The piece hangs via a hidden hanging wire. Hollyhock seeds connote abundance and prosperity, as they tend to grow in inhospitable cracks and crevices.
lizbloomfield.com, San Francisco, California
Hollyhock
ELIZABETH BLOOMFIELD
Orchid Seed
Ceramic
17 x 2 x 2 inches, 2023
Orchid Seed may be displayed either as a pedestal piece or a wall piece. The form is modeled closely after a scanning electron microscope image of an orchid seed with a ruptured seed coat.
lizbloomfield.com, San Francisco, California
LORRAINE BONNER
The Order of Restoration 1: Restoration of Heart
Clay, fabric
22 x 10 x 13 inches, 2014
“The Order of Restoration” represents the three stages which must occur to allow the capacity for Resistance to arise.
1. First, there is the Restoration of the Heart, the reawakening of the moral sensibility which is foundational in humans. Living as we do in a culture saturated with trauma and violence, most of us have learned to cover and protect our hearts. The first step of Resistance is gathering the strength to feel.
lorrainebonner.com, Oakland, California
LORRAINE BONNER
The Order of Restoration 2: Restoration of Vision
fabric
22 x 10 x 13 inches, 2014
“The Order of Restoration” represents the three stages which must occur to allow the capacity for Resistance to arise.
2. Having restored Heart, the next step is Restoration of Vision. We can now actually see reality. It is difficult. With the Heart awakened our perception of the pain of the world is increased, but so is our appreciation of its beauty. We can distinguish what harms us from what nourishes us, and the capacity for Resistance can increase.
lorrainebonner.com, Oakland, California
Clay,
LORRAINE BONNER
The Order of Restoration 3: Restoration of Voice/Action
“The Order of Restoration” represents the three stages which must occur to allow the capacity for Resistance to arise.
3. With Heart and Vision restored, Resistance, in the form of Voice and Action, is now possible.
lorrainebonner.com, Oakland, California
MAGUE CALANCHE
Mazatl (deer)
Papier mache, masking tape, raffia, various shaping materials, covered with corn husks
42 x 19 x 24 inches, 2023
Celebrating is an opportunity to create a sacred space incorporating the unusual with enchantment. This is where the border between the spirit and natural worlds merge into one. This Mazatl headpiece is an homage to the Yaqui deer dance of Sonora, a form of storytelling that conveys spiritual messages and depicts life lessons. The deer symbolizes good and purity, and the dance is about the struggle for good against darkness and negativity.
maguecalanche.com, San Francisco, California
MARIE CAMERON
Bait Ball
Found object installation: plastic clam shells, hooks, line, mother of pearl lures and gaming tokens 66 x 42 x 42 inches, 2022
I create mixed media assemblages and installations using found objects and recycled materials. I strive to honor our natural world while exploring what it means to live on this planet in a sustainable manner, balancing our need to consume, enjoy life and thrive, with our compulsion to prioritize convenience and short term profits employing harmful extractive and polluting practices, over the longterm health of our ecosystems upon which we all depend upon for our survival.
mariecameronstudio.com, Los Gatos, California
CHRISTINE CIANCI
Deep Sea
Ceramic
12 x 4 x 5 inches, 2021
My work frequently includes a bit of whimsy with a dark twist. This is a whimsical piece of a mermaid trying to drown a deep sea diver in a 19th century Carmagnolle dive suit. Mermaids were historically feared as sirens who might seduce sailors to their deaths for invading their ocean home. This piece is a metaphor of nature against the invasion of the industrial age and its destruction.
www.ccianciart.com, San Francisco, California
MITTIE CUETARA
Obelisk
Paper mache, wire, acrylic paint 14 x 7 x 5 inches, 2024
Working in paper mache, a playful and accessible medium, I explore the tensions of my love/hate relationship with domesticity. This humble, recognizable tool is part of a shared visual language, kind of a community experience of history and memory, with the imperfection and different-ness standing against an increasingly packaged and corporatized world.
mittiecuetara.net, Oakland, California
LYNN DAU
Infestation
Cast concrete and found object assemblage 42 x 24 x 20 inches, 2018
In my art practice I use a variety of materials and processes, focusing on found objects. There is nothing exceptional about home, marriage, and family, so I find it natural to explore the dynamics of human relationships and everyday lives with ordinary, everyday objects. I invite the viewer to consider serious content through humor and exaggeration. This piece combines a household chair with a woman’s purse and an invasion of cast concrete duckies. They came, they infiltrated, and life was forever changed.
lynndau.com, San Jose, California
LYNN DAU
Splash
Stainless steel kitchen pots and utensils 24 x 40 x 20 inches, 2017
This assemblage of kitchen pots and utensils explores traditional gender roles and family dynamics. I was a lawyer when I quit my job and took on the mantle of stay-at-home parent. There were times when I felt both defined and constrained by housework. Gone were the intellectual challenges of crafting a legal argument or negotiating a plea. I frequently use found objects in my work, they speak volumes and carry personal resonance. I am influenced by surrealist imagery and invite the viewer to consider serious content through humor and exaggeration.
lynndau.com, San Jose, California
GINY DIXON
Sticks and Silk
Sticks, Sari silk, fabric, yarn, twill tape, foam, wire 50 x 8 x 8 inches, 2021
My art encompasses a colorful range of textile and construction processes including dye painting, sculpture, weaving and stitching with natural and man-made materials. Over the years I have experimented with different techniques of textile art and surface design. My favorite is to use Procion dyes on white cotton, silk and antique family linens. I use my fabrics in wall art, 3D installations, ceiling hung pieces and sculptures incorporating sticks, reeds and bamboo elements.
ginydixon.com, Danville, California
MICHELLE ECHENIQUE
Unleashed
Muselets
42 x 25 x 2.5 inches, 2023
Unleashed is from my ‘Cage and Crown’ series which refers to muselets, the wire cages that sit atop champagne bottles. I convert these mundane objects into something new. Their individual shapes, especially when flattened, are intriguing. Recalling Ghanian sculptor El Anatsui and his liquor bottle cap works, I began connecting the muselets and weaving them.
michelleechenique.com, San Francisco, California
MYRNA ERLICH
Unspoken Resilience
Fabric
36 x 8 x 8 inches, 2024
Unspoken Resilience celebrates the enduring strength of rich cultural heritages. Standing three feet tall, this sculpture is crafted from fabric in hues of black, green, yellow, and red. The upright and steady posture signifies resilience and pride. The absence of a head and hands symbolizes the often unspoken and unseen contributions of women throughout history.
myrnaehrlich.art, Cupertino, California
MARGUERITE ELLIOT
Seed Pod Haiku
Steel, cast bronze 12 x 8 x 4 inches, 2018
Seed Pod Haiku captures the essence of nature’s poetry in an intimate sculpture, inviting contemplation on life’s cyclical beauty and the quiet resilience of seeds. For the past decade, my work has focused on the environment. I strive to capture both the breathtaking beauty and delicate fragility of nature. Each piece is a call to action, urging viewers to foster a deeper connection and responsibility toward environmental stewardship.
margueriteelliot.com, Fairfax, California
EDEN EVANS
Herbal Medicine Shrouds (01-03)
Medicinal plants, cotton, saddle rack 33.5 x 41 x 31 inches, 2020-21
In 2020, I founded the Center for Investigation of Land Mass Agency (CILMA), a field study project, which centers its inquiry on relation, loss, embodied knowledge and the more-than-human world. One branch of CILMA’s research, the Material Inquiries, engages healing through care, craftwork and the senses. The Herbal Medicine Shrouds are a collection of woven herbal offerings, which function as potential medicines and soil nutrient support.
edenvevans.com, Berkeley, California
GILLIAN GARRO
Dangerous Cradle
Churro wool, rust and charcoal dyes, dogwood branches, rusty nails, silk 14 x 20 x 8 inches, 2023
Dangerous Cradle is part of my ongoing exploration of safe places— how we find them for ourselves, how we care for each other. The “danger” in the title refers to those who might approach and do harm.
@gillygarro, Oakland, California
GILLIAN GARRO
Feather Cradle
Churro wool, silk, dogwood branches, feather shafts 25 x 38 x 7 inches, 2023
Feather Cradle is part of my ongoing exploration of safe places— how we find them for ourselves, how we care for each other. My attraction to fragile materials helps me to embrace impermanence, fragility, the way things fall apart and what remains.
@gillygarro, Oakland, California
GILLIAN GARRO
Red Cradle
Churro wool, silk madder and marigold dyes, dogwood branches, shell buttons, cactus seed pods 24 x 36 x 6 inches, 2023
Red Cradle honors my late husband and is the first in a series exploring safe places—how we find them for ourselves, how we care for each other. During my husband’s illness I often felt unable to keep him safe—I kept envisioning a cradle that could hold and rock him.
@gillygarro, Oakland, California
BUSHRA GILL
Essence
Cast bronze with blue patina 6 x 6 x 10 inches, 2024
A person’s thoughts are the essence of their being, unfolding as they process information. The origami folds took on a figurative shape as I made the models for and then worked the cast bronze pieces. Three individual forms joined up, spooling into folds that echo the structures of the spine and the brain.
bushragill.com, Lafayette, California
ANNETTE GOODFRIEND
Chrysaora Colorata
Silicon rubber, epoxy, steel, laboratory clamp 20 x 6 x 12 inches, 2024
This series focuses on the threat to the ocean ecosystem, exploring human interconnectedness with our oceans, our reliance upon them and their reliance upon us. Critical balances are being upset, with a wasting disease that killed billions of sea stars resulting in the population explosion of urchins, and the resultant decimation of kelp forests. Here, scientific laboratory clamps with human fingers firmly grasp the sea life, examining it, dissecting its secrets. These are surreal science projects of the imagination.
The effects of climate change and global warming are depicted on a cracked earth under a bell jar. Using satellite imagery and aerial photos as reference, global hotspots are depicted. Fossilized sand dollars represent diminishing fossil fuels over decades of rampant use. The viewer spins the globe on the stand and can view the rising chart lines on the bell jar until 2030 when it is predicted the planet will be uninhabitable.
skgregoryart.com, Salinas, California
JANE GRIMM
Duet X
Low fire clay and glazes 24 x 24 x 3 inches, 2024
Duet X is an interlocking two part ceramic sculpture. My ceramic sculptures, whether minimalistic or representational, are about form and texture. My work is sensuous, rhythmic, with soft colors, creating the sense of peacefulness.
janebgrimm.com, San Francisco, California
VICKI GUNTER
Clay Mariposa Lily (Calochortus argillosus) ...In Everything Series
Clay, underglaze, stains, glaze, gold luster, beeswax, wire, chain, patinated copper 12 x 28 x 14.25 inches, 2021
The Clay Mariposa Lily (Calochortus argillosus) is a clay-loving, California rarity, endemic to our Bay Area! The Tortix moth, this lily and we, need each other. Made seven times its natural size, the pistil and root from the lily’s edible bulblette, transform into DNA helixes— four molecules that are …In Everything. Two hands embrace the lily. Half the stamen are humanoid. Will we tend it or render it extinct?
vickigunter.com, Oakland, California
DIANNE HOFFMAN
Grow To Great Lengths
Recycled found objects 22 x 19 x 5 inches, 2023
Through the medium of assemblage I use re-purposed, found objects to create dimensional worlds of allegory where tall tales are told, jokes are cracked, emotions stirred, and poems imparted. I’ve taken great leaps of faith to grow as an artist that have required me to push forward while remaining flexible and confident when facing each challenge and opportunity. This piece depicts my focus and steadfast conviction to pursue this creative path, one that has chosen me as much as I have chosen it, and continually fuels my persistence.
diannehoffman.net, San Francisco, California
DIANNE HOFFMAN
Sound System
Recycled found objects
13.5 x 16.5 x 5.5 inches, 2024
The narrative facets of my work derive from the variety of music I am listening to, a phrase that strikes me, or a sentiment I want to give visual context. For this piece I chose to convey my role as the euphonic receiver of an acoustical experience. Music sends vibrations through the air that enter the ear canal as sound waves. These tickle the eardrum and are transmitted into an electrical signal to the brain stem. The physical reaction reminds us to listen how art individually resonates within each of us.
diannehoffman.net, San Francisco, California
MARILYNN J. HOST
Family
Paper on wire armature
65 x 12 x 10 inches, 48 x 12 x 10 inches, and 70 x 20 x 15 inches, 2023
When I first started creating this group, I wasn’t thinking about anything specific—just working on using wire armatures with paper and added items. As I finished, they reminded me of clan, family, den, pack, etc. Here you have a visual symbol of what a “family” might be. A social unit, things having a common source, a form of social structure, a space.
San Martin, California
KATHLEEN KING
Monument to the Precariat 1, 2, 3
Found plastic
96 x 21 x 21 inches each, 2020
Precarity is a political condition where people suffer as social and economic systems fail. The term evokes larger questions of uncertainty and the ultimate impermanence of life. In truth, our social existence depends on interdependence and the care of others; our bodies, work, and empathy sustain each other’s survival. I transform cast-off materials through arrangement (interlocking, piling, stacking, hanging, tying and leaning) to create my assemblage, sculpture and installations.
kathleenking.carbonmade.com, Berkeley, California
TANYA LIN
Waiting To Be Born
Plastic, feathers, wood, metal, glass and fabric 20 x 16 x 20 inches, 2005
Waiting To Be Born was created while I was undergoing fertility treatments. The female body has the power to create new members of the human family. Women’s genitals and reproductive interior are often the subject of taboos, laws, mutilations and control. I imagined a place where the little ones wait for the right time and place to be born. My child never came. In memory of Manuela “Nellie” Pugliese. With special thanks to Siham Shqair, Ryan Carpenter, and Tim Annunciation.
blackandwhitelight.com, San Francisco, California
SUSAN LONGINI
Crosshatch
Amphora: turquoise/maize
Glass, paté de verre method, cast base 18 x 15 x 5 inches, 2020
I use traditional “women’s work” to convey my thoughts. Crosshatch Amphora: turquoise/maize is a take on the ancient vessels holding wine or water. However, this particular vessel does not hold water: any liquid pours out of spaces on the sides or trickles through the permeable sintered paté de verre. Women create beauty from the ordinary, from scraps. And the beauty lies in the unpredictable.
susanlongini.com, Fremont, California
ANNIE MARINI-GENZON
Read Banned Books
Fired clay, acrylic, glazes, wood 24 x 12 x 20 inches, 2024
My storytelling sculptures are about women’s journeys, challenges, and dreams. Read Banned Books speaks directly about censorship and all the books in recent years that have been put out of circulation because of the topics they deal with.
amgart.com, Altadena, California
CAROLINE MASTERS
Calligraphy II
Bullseye Glass, custom steel stand 18 x 18 x 3/8 inches, 2024
Calligraphy II is part of a continuing exploration of the concept of void, which appears as the clear space/opening in this 18-inch diameter disc. I work with interplay of light utilizing transparent glasses. Glass changes and transforms in amazing ways and one of my techniques includes working with reactive glasses—there is no black glass and all black/brown color is a result of the reaction of copper and sulfur glasses.
carolinemasters.com, Fremont, California
KRISTINE MAYS
Freedom Now
Wire, paint, plaster 26 x 21 x 16 inches, 2024
Sculpted from thousands of pieces of wire hooked and looped together, each of my garments embodies a fleeting gesture or expression that delivers a message of strength while challenging how we view ourselves and others. An invisible occupant revealed through the sculpted folds and wrinkles of a garment, or the shapes that come together to create the human form.
kristinemays.com, San Francisco, California
MIDORI
Aglæcwif
Mixed media (root of a fallen manzanita, rope, aluminum) 42 x 60 x 12 inches, 2023
Aglæcwif, Grendel’s mother in Beowulf, is a feminine nature force, an indigenous entity villainized in the tale told by colonizers. This work reclaims commercial castoffs, transforming them into a celebration of wild California’s robust beauty and textures. It is reminiscent of the fog-shrouded woods of coastal California, with its manzanitas and great oaks draped in pale green lace lichen. planetmidori.com, San Francisco, California
PATRICIA A. MONTGOMERY
Montgomery Bus Boycott was led from Behind the Scenes
Wearable art quilted swing coat: textile, fabric, digital images, ribbons, buttons 60 x 40 x 19 inches, 2014
Following Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to move from her seat to the back of the bus, JoAnn Robinson stayed up all night mimeographing 52,000 handbills calling for a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. She distributed flyers throughout the black community. The hope was to stay off the buses for one day. It worked and black citizens decided to continue the boycott leading to the establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as president.
civilrightsswingcoats.com, Concord, California
ALEANA ORTEGA
Rattus Lampas
Desk lamp, wire, quilt batting, faux fur, polymer clay 20 x 13 x 11 inches, 2024
Rattus lampas (Lamp Rat) is an art doll made from a posable desk lamp, wire, quilt batting, faux fur, and polymer clay. I have always enjoyed creatures and their behavior, whether in life or fantasy. After using a flexible desk lamp for years, I had noticed how it was like the ball-jointed spines in previous doll creature projects. Rattus lampas is the domesticated rat creature that helps me light up all future creatures added to the slowly growing ecosystem.
I counted 19 female-identifying artists who have collaborated with me in creating feminist art exhibitions that enabled hundreds of artists to have their artwork seen in venues around the world. These fiber art figures represent me and my curatorial collaborators, some who continue to work with me, some who have gone on to produce their own exhibitions, and some who have passed away.
mrpotani.com, San Francisco, California
RENEE OWEN ´
The Nameless & the Named Fiber Sculpture (wire, paper pulp, thread, hornets nest) 28 x 28 x 4 inches, 2023
This piece speaks to the displacement of millions from their homelands due to wars, violence, climate change, scarce resources and political dissension. Their names, possibly recorded but more likely they remain nameless, now forgotten statistics in the global dynamics that claimed their lives.
reneeowenartandpoetry.com, Sebastopol, California
RENEE OWEN
Flight of the Farsaken
Wool felt, waxed linen thread, branches, porcupine quills 19 x 30 x 17 inches, 2023
Part of my Adrift Series: textural interpretations of the current global diaspora, with entire families fleeing their homeland to disperse over dangerous routes to find a new home. The tactile making of the artwork, with the haptic act of weaving wire or shaping handmade paper or felt, is transmuted into a visual poetry. A collective narrative unfolds, creating space that also speaks to our personal histories and cultural roots, reminding us that we are all connected fragments of humanity.
reneeowenartandpoetry.com, Sebastopol, California
CHERYL L. PERMAN
Bird on the Wing
Paper mache clay on wooden pedestal 17 x 6 x 4 inches, 2022
During the 2020 Covid shutdown, the New York Times published an article about papier-mâché emerging as a popular medium for artists who were stuck in their homes without art supplies. The old recipe of flour, water and shredded newspaper was no longer used only by children but by serious artists as well. A Google search led me to a fortified mix that added glue and joint compound to create a lightweight, durable substance called paper clay which is applied in thin coats to an armature and dried between applications.
Redwood City, California
SAWYER ROSE
Lauren
Work data, wood, chains, gold and silver leaf, cardboard 96 x 96 x 12 inches, 2021
The Carrying Stones Project celebrates the strength of working women while shining a light on the systemic inequities that women face in the workplace, at home, and in their communities.
I take real-world work data given to me by a diverse sample of women and translate it into large-scale data visualization art that tells these women’s poignant personal stories and helps viewers understand how we all benefit from labor equity.
carrying-stones.com, Fairfax, California
SAWYER ROSE
Lauren (portrait)
Archival pigment print 24 x 36 inches, 2021
Once a woman’s data sculpture is complete, I take the storytelling a step further by taking a photographic portrait of each woman lifting and carrying her sculpture—bearing the burden of her hours in a real and physical way.
Lauren’s paid labor hours are brown and gold “books” and her unpaid labor hours are white and silver “books,” all lined up, shelf after shelf. Spaces on the shelves represent the hours when Lauren was not working.
carrying-stones.com, Fairfax, California
ARATHI SATISH
Mosaic tiles
21 x 11 x 11 inches, 2024
On this vase, we see Krishna, an embodiment of divine spirit. One side represents the magical flute he plays and another represents the tree of life which is a sacred symbol of unity. The first bird represents an individual eating a fruit and the other represents the divine. The vase is symbolic of the source of life itself and depicts Brundavan or an Enchanted Forest.
Fremont, California
Brundavan
BARBARA SCHLEIN
Catalina Ironwood
Catalina ironwood and stained glass
9.5 x 15 x 7 inches, 2024
Mosaics have been my passion for the last 15 years after retirement. Dimitry Grudsky was my wonderful first teacher at Fremont Adult School. Also I went to Orsini Glass Studio, Venice, as a student of Mosaic Artist Mirielle Swinnen. Since then, I have created several Hearts of San Francisco as a fundraiser for SF General Hospital. I have also exhibited at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery, which has been a great support of local artists such as myself.
Fremont, California
SONDRA SCHWETMAN
Wall of VooDoo
Hand dyed silk and embroidery hoops
96 x 12 x 2 inches, 2022
Eight silk breasts in embroidery hoops. This body of work addresses the right of women to take up space in the public discourse. I use clothing design as a stand-in for the self to enter this discussion. My contribution to the discourse is the desire for women to live their lives as they please with self-autonomy and self-direction; making choices that are best for them without being held to unrealistic stereotypes and gender roles. Dresses, strait jackets as well as direct representation of the body push these ideas forward. I work in linen and silk.
sondraschwetmanart.com, Arcata, California
LARRAINE SEIDEN
Safety Nets - Arrays 1 & 2 (Weird Fishes) diptych
Cardboard, twine, wax
57 x 22 x 2 inches, 44 x 22 x 2 inches, 2024
Array 1 & 2 (Weird Fishes) is part of my Safety Net sculpture series. Through the repetitive act of tying twine to connect cardboard loops, I create conceptual safety nets held together by hundreds of knots. These grow organically into biomorphic shapes resembling nature’s support systems like hives, murmurations, or arrays of fish that depend on the sum of their parts to thrive.
larraineseiden.com, Piedmont, California
SOK’IANN
Undeparted Thoughts
Acrylic on canvas, paper and archival glue 23 x 18 x 3 inches, 2024
My work visualizes personal experiences influenced by neurodivergence. I fold canvas to form the worldviews of my poetic narrative, creating sculptural forms that symbolize my structured mental landscapes. Using only one color, I explore the passage of time through repetitive layering with techniques such as pouring and ink washing to create depth and unveil hidden emotional states. Each fold and crease reveals a monochromatic dialogue of personal evolution and resilience, capturing the essence of women shaping their spaces.
sokiann.com, Fremont, California
LISA STAMBAUGH
Cotton Candy Coral
Various fibers, driftwood, beads 5 x 12 x 6 inches, 2024
My fiber craft obsession started 60+ years ago in childhood when I learned to sew, knit, crochet, cross-stitch, and needlepoint. I enjoy freestyle abstract creation using just my imagination and an extensive stash of leftover project materials. I’m particularly captivated by hyperbolic crochet, a celebration of the intersection of geometry and handicraft. Residing equally in the realms of art, science, and math, these surfaces of negative curvature can be found in items throughout nature, such as kelp, coral, and kale.
curlicues.com/interesting-stuff/hyperbolic-crochet, Fremont, California
LINDA TAPSCOTT
Growth
Round reed and wire 20 x 10 x 10 inches, 2023
Ruth Asawa’s hanging sculptures serve as a wellspring of inspiration for my exploration of three-dimensional shapes. This free-hanging sculpture, Growth, expresses contrasts; internal versus external, confined versus open, small versus large. Growth occurs in a rhythmic pattern of expansion and contraction. Creating this sculpture was a journey of exploration and discovery, where each woven step led to a new direction.
LTapscott.com, Portola Valley, California
LINDA TAPSCOTT
Relative
Round reed and wire
24 x 8 x 6 inches, 2023
All relations are formative, the first of which are those with the family. As I move into the final third of my life, I realize how important relationships are. They shape, connect, and encourage us to evolve and grow. We engage in a sort of dance as we establish connections with others. My woven wall-hanging sculpture ‘Relative’ is a reflection of this.
LTapscott.com, Portola Valley, California
DEMETRA THEOFANOUS
Tangled Landscape
Glass and stone
12 x 10.25 x 8 inches, 2021
Inspired by the storytelling tradition of woven basketry, I weave with glass to form an emotional connection with the viewer. Patterns in the natural world are abstracted, to explore contradictions inherent in our transformative journey—fragility/strength, precariousness/stability, vulnerability/resilience. Glass, with its inherent contradictions, is a material well suited to express these tensions.
scupturebydemetra.com, San Mateo, California
CAROLYN TILLIE FEATURED
ARTIST
The jurors of Women Create Space are proud to present Carolyn Tillie as our featured artist. Her table setting installation is a literal outpouring of words meticulously cut from vintage cookbooks and applied to dozens of utensils, service ware, and food. She has set out a feast for the eyes and heart, waiting for loved ones to arrive, and making space for everyone to gather around her table.
Mixed Emotions: Reflections on Death, Dialogue, and Dinner
A Culinary Art Installation*
Vintage china, crystal, silver place settings and service ware, 100+ year-old cookbook words
Room-sized installation, 2023
When the pandemic began in January 2020, I experienced “mixed emotions” about self-quarantining, as those first few weeks felt like an extended artist’s retreat. With galleries shuttered and art fairs canceled, there was little audience for my food-themed jewelry. Anxiety descended as I learned of friends and family who were dying, yet the pandemic kept anyone from traveling to bedsides
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CAROLYN TILLIE FEATURED ARTIST
or funerals. One of the tragedies of the pandemic is a surfeit of abandoned kitchen items inherited by family members of those they lost. A friend had gifted me with a copy of the 1909 edition of the White House Cookbook: A Comprehensive Cyclopedia, as well as several vintage utensils. Wishing to honor the friend’s grandmother and my own, both of whom had owned and used this cookbook, I began the meditative act of physically cutting out descriptive words from the yellowed and crumbling pages. Applying those words to implements befitting them – butter knives, a beater, a rolling pin, a sifter – I imagined these women in their Formica kitchens with lace or gingham curtains, rolling out dough for a pie or beating eggs for an omelet, and soon a full place-setting was completed.
CAROLYN TILLIE FEATURED ARTIST
COVID-19 became an ever-present specter in all our lives and 2022 was a very difficult year for me and my family with the deaths of four close family members. 2022 was a year of grief and longing for one last dinner with my 20-year-old stepson who died unexpectedly in February, or to share recipes with a sister who passed away in June, as I continued to cut and paste words; imagining unspoken dialogues with those now departed and tasting meals never to be shared. Now, that single place-setting has grown into a full installation of over a hundred pieces comprising an entire feast for four, complete with scrumptious foodstuffs and service ware, coupled with a sideboard of all the tools and utensils needed to prepare such a repast.
carolyntillie.com, Montara, California
* Due to space limitations, this installation was online only.
HWEI-LI TSAO
Modern Armor
Polyvinyl, tulle, and threads
82 x 70 x 5 inches, 2014
Through my cultural heritage, I look at the impact of modern consumption on our lives. Everything from single-use products to high-end luxury items contains plastic material, which is discarded soon after use. I often contemplate how my ancestors would react if their garments were made of polyvinyl. I sculpt larger-thanlife polyvinyl garments to show off their transparency, shininess, reflection, and translucency. As a result, the garments inspired a series of drawings and paintings.
hweili.com, San Anselmo, California
YUTING WANG
Optimism
Steel rods, wood panels, steel chain, paper, acrylic 18 x 18 x 18 inches, 2014
This piece encapsulates the dialectical relation between choice and the mystery of life. Life is often likened to a game, gamble, or strategic play due to its inherent uncertainty and the impact of others’ choices on our life trajectory. Despite careful planning, life can surprise us like a roll of the dice. Shifting our focus away from loss and gain reveals that there is no right or wrong choice. By staying true to our values, we can watch life unfold and, with conviction, turn every situation around.
yutingwangart.com, Sunnyvale, California
SUSAN ZIMMERMAN
Lightness of Density
Fiber: linen, plant dyes, acrylic medium, thread 30 x 21 x 8 inches, 2023
My experiments with botanical dyes on linen over the past few years have produced a series of abstract 2-D and 3-D compositions that offer poetic interpretations of formal elements such as line, shape, color, space, density, and dimensionality. My color palette has resulted from the blending of different plant roots, extracts, and ground flowers and from overdying hues, a process I think of as similar to mixing my own paints. The use of color is an important element in my work as I look for ways to create spatial illusions.
susanfiberart.com, El Cerrito, California
Exhibition Committee
The success of the Women Create Space exhibition and its associated events can be attributed to the extraordinary dedication and support of our talented volunteer exhibition team. Thank you!
Laura Abrams, Catalog Editor and Proofreader
Elizabeth Addison, Co-curator & Director, Juror, Catalog, Installation
NCWCA and the Women Create Space exhibition team extend their gratitude to Olive Hyde Art Gallery Curator, Leah Andrews and the City of Fremont’s Assistant Recreation Supervisor, Vanessa Yang, for your dedication, vision, and generosity.
Women Create Space - Curatorial & Jury Team
Elizabeth Addison MFA is a Berkeley, California-based, visual artist, curator, and educator whose works are included in numerous private and public collections. Her practice encompasses printmaking, mixed media, digital media, and immersive installation. She records images on her daily walks and transforms them into mandalas of ‘the one… the universe.’ Her work ranges from examining California’s native flora and last wild river to social justice and environmental equity. Addison exhibits throughout the West Coast and nationally. She is an Artist-in-Residence at Kala Art Institute, Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art Exhibitions Chair, and Creative Director for the Bay Area Women Artists’ Legacy Project.
Karen M. Gutfreund is an independent curator with a focus on feminist and social justice art. She has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department at MoMA/New York, as well as in numerous galleries, has served on the boards of art organizations, is a member of ArtTable, and is a representative for The Feminist Art Project. Gutfreund has created more than forty national exhibitions—most recently Agency: Feminist Art and Power at the Museum of Sonoma County. She is a partner in Gutfreund Cornett Art—a curatorial partnership with the motto “changing the world through art,” that creates national touring exhibitions. Gutfreund splits her time between the Bay Area and her ranch near Yosemite.
Leah Andrews discovered her love for the arts and creativity at a very young age. In high school she served as a board member of the Art Club and helped organize several student exhibitions. She studied Fine Arts at Ohlone College where she received a degree with highest honors. Sculpture was her concentration, and several of her pieces were juried into the annual student art exhibition. She transferred to San Francisco State University where she discovered her passion for Art History, specializing in modern art and contemporary Asian art. She graduated from SFSU magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History. She is currently the curator of the City of Fremont’s Olive Hyde Art Gallery. Beginning her third year at Olive Hyde, Leah has curated over ten exhibitions at the historic gallery. She has guest juried three exhibitions including NCWCA’s intensely emotional Devastating Loves and Transcendent Hatreds.
